Future posts on that sister blog will outline some of the rooms, materials and devices in it. From a military point of view though, probably the most useful aspect is the ability to place it on top of a structure 30km tall, and theoretically even 600km tall using the latest strength figures for graphene. Some of what follows will just be place-markers for future posts.

From such high altitudes, surveillance capability would be very high. So would the ability to use it to launch gliding vehicles and to house directed energy weapons, and obviously make it easier to attack space-based targets or launch other weaponry and equipment into space. It would therefore be a valuable target for opposing forces and would need protection. Assuming that the military of at least one country have adopted the Carbon Trio as citizens or allies, it is reasonable to assume that the platform would therefore be permitted to house defense-related systems.

Lasers are an obvious choice for long-range attack on incoming missiles or planes. Graphene has already been noted for its excellent properties in making lasers, so graphene lasers would certainly be a top priority. Electron pipes would be useful too. Electron pipes are basically linear accelerators that could fire high energy particle beams. I invented them originally as a high-speed upgrade to optical fibre. The original invention dates back to 1991 and is available here: http://www.futurizon.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/electronpipejul91.pdf. As a telecomms system, it offers high bandwidth and could certainly be used for high speed comms around the platform to link the high bandwidth devices together. As a weapon system, the Carbon Trio would need to increase the length of the pipes by looping them around their base, increase the voltage by a few zeros, and thus produce a high energy particle beam. The pipes could be nanotubes or graphene tubes, and the coils use graphene wire. A large number of them could be used in parallel to make an intense beam. With the power supply sufficient (I’ll discuss some power generation potential in a later post).

The Car-Base would also be able to use mirrors to deflect solar energy. For weapon use, this would mostly come from a space-based array of mirrors. The maximum power level would mainly be limited by international treaties. The sun certainly provides intense enough power to make useful redirection weapons feasible.

Graphene dart swarms could also be released from a high altitude platform. These would be very thin and sharp, so could accumulate very high velocity before homing in on their target. These can wipe out an entire force of soldiers, easily penetrating standard issue protective helmets or a vehicle roof. Again, a future post will give more detail.

The defence of the Car-Base would not depend solely on weapons. It would also have formidable defences. The structural materials would be extremely strong – carbon fibre would probably be the weakest of them and even that is a good starting point. Graphene, carbon chainmail, nanotubes, carbon foam, cubic carbon and diamond are all pure carbon with very high specs, although a few are still expensive to make, future technology will bring costs down a great deal.

The combination of these materials offers a wide range of excellent electrical properties too. Using variable electric and magnetic fields as well as the principles of self organisation, evolution and self assembly, elaborate self healing structures could be assembled and maintained. They could be ruptured in a powerful attack, but could quickly self repair. Some structural components might provide small areas of force fields that could provide some protection but allow ultra-high speed opening and closing of gateways.

And of course, the final line of defense would be a squad of combat drones, under Carbo’s command, naturally.